Three-pot porridge and naan

In March, peach blossoms begin to bloom in Beijing.

Little Wandong from the porridge and naan shop hadn't appeared for a long time, and when Wandong came back on horseback this day, Lao Wan saw him and was startled.

Lao Wan: "Wandong, where have you been for a long time and haven't come back!"

"Run to the south to do something."

"This horse is not bad. I bought it in the south?" Lao Wan asked while rubbing his hands.

Wandong grinned: "No, my friend lent me the ride, and I'll return it later."

Lao Wan scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

After tidying up the shop, Wandong really went out and returned the horse.

Zou Wu'an waited for him in the Dubu building for a long time, when he heard the report from his attendant that Wandong was coming, he straightened his clothes and straightened his hair crown.

Mei Wandong walked in quickly, put down the riding whip and a pitch-black token, and prepared to leave.

Zou Wu'an was taken aback: "Wandong...you don't even look at me no matter what you mean."

Sure enough, Mei Wandong stopped, turned her head to look at him, and then walked out again.

Zou Wu'an got up immediately, and chased after him with a blushing face: "Although this matter in Yingbei is tricky, but... I can add money."

That's right, a few days after Wandong came back from the sea, Zou Wu'an asked him to go to Yingbei with a token, saying that he was investigating the case, but the people in Yingbei didn't even let him enter the government.

I left him hanging out for more than half a month, and spent all my money on accommodation in the inn. I had no money to stay any longer, so I came back on horseback.

Zou Wu'an: "Xiao Wandong, please, add more money, you have the final say on how much you add."

Mei Wandong raised her eyebrows and slapped her face.

"...50 taels?"

Mei Wandong shook her head: "500 taels."

Zou Wu'an turned pale with shock: "Little Wandong, you are a lion!"

Mei Wandong turned around abruptly, her eyes turned cold: "You want me to investigate the governor of Yingbei County, do you think this person is easy to investigate? To be honest, I went to Yingbei for fifteen days. Even a small government office in their place won’t let me in, you stepped on the horse and told me to report your name Zou Wu’an in the north of the camp, can you walk sideways? That’s it?”

Mei Wandong felt that he was being polite by not throwing the token in Zou Wu'an's face.

"..." Zou Wu'an didn't know what to say for a while, "The old emperor is dying, it's just a matter of these few days, the prefect of Yingbei belongs to the prince, and the prince wants to occupy Yingbei city this time and force me to My cousin (the son of the Prince of Yingbei) supports him."

"I don't care about the royal affairs. Don't talk about them. I'll listen to them. As for the case of the Yingbei County Sheriff, please ask someone else to be wise!" Mei Wandong has always been bothered about the royal affairs, and she doesn't even want to hear about the affairs of the court.

Zou Wu'an looked at Mei Wandong's leaving figure, and suddenly gritted his teeth: "500 taels is 500 taels!"

Mei Wandong stopped, turned around, walked into the room, and picked up the whip and token: "I will take the 90 taels, and change the remaining ten taels into copper coins. Send me money by mail."

Zou Wu'an only felt that this person had no conscience...

He waved his hand to tell his followers to do as Wandong said.

Mei Wandong: "Tell me again in detail, what crime did the Yingbei county guard commit?"

Zou Wu'an put his hands on his hips angrily: "If I know, can I ask you to investigate?"

Mei Wandong narrowed her eyes: "So you just asked me to find evidence that he committed a crime?"

"That's what it means."

"Then what if he doesn't?"

"Just check the people around him."

Mei Wandong smiled, "What's the difference between you and those corrupt officials?"

Zou Wu'an: "Don't tell me you want to have trouble with Yin Zi?"

"That's not true. The governor of Yingbei County is cautious. You must have heard of it. It's not easy to investigate this person."

Zou Wu'an: "It's inconvenient to check Mo Li's official position, so you can only go."

"Okay, I will find a way to find out. Whether your cousin can take real power in Yingbei this time depends entirely on the sheriff."

Zou Wu'an opened his eyes wide, he didn't expect Mei Wandong to be so smart, didn't he say he didn't care about royal affairs!

*

Lao Wan found that Wandong only came back for a while, and disappeared for a long time the next day.

People in the Dongcheng market said that Wandong from the porridge and nang shop used to fish for three days and hang nets for two days, but now he can't see anyone for a month.

*

This time when she came to Yingbei again, Mei Wandong didn't stay at the inn, she directly found a shop and bought it.

A few days later, the money he brought was squandered, and Zou Wu'an was rushed to send someone to send him the money.

Unexpectedly, three days after the letter was sent, someone from the escort agency came to the door.

The guards carried the box up and handed him a piece of paper to sign.

Mei Wandong took it over and wrote a few characters that the escorts couldn't even recognize.

The man froze holding the paper.

Mei Wandong: "What's the problem?"

The man thought for a while, shook his head and led them away.

As soon as they left, Mei Wandong opened the box and tapped the silver taels inside.

He asked for 100 taels, and Zou Wu'an sent him 200 taels.

He patted the non-existent dust on his hands and smiled with satisfaction.

On the next day, Wandong Porridge and Nang Shop opened its northern branch.

Although Yingbei is not as prosperous as central Beijing, it is still one of the top three counties in the Great Game.

Wandong's three dishes of mutton porridge and two dishes of mutton naan, the prices are so low.

A few days ago, others were not familiar with it. After waiting for a few days, the stall was sold out in less than an hour every day.

Others said that the new porridge and naan hawker was good-looking, good-natured, delicious and cheap.

Wandong's shop and residence are not in the same place. He has been here for a while, and he has planted many flowers in the courtyard.

It's just that these flowers don't give them any face, and so far, none of them have bloomed.

Wandong felt that he didn't know how to grow flowers, so on the way to buy mutton, he wanted to go to the flower and bird shop and ask the boss carefully.

"Boss, the potted plants I bought from you some time ago..."

Mei Wandong walked into the flower and bird shop, then backed out, thinking she had gone to the wrong place.

"What? Are you moving?" Mei Wandong asked the shop assistant.

The clerk smiled and said, "You don't come to Yingbei very often. After the Flower Festival, there is a lantern show. The beauty of our lanterns in Yingbei County is that we use fresh flowers. Almost all the flowers in the shop are sold out."

"That's it, congratulations on Caiyuan Guangjin." Mei Wandong grinned.

This smile made the buddy blush, this young man is so good-looking too!

*

On the way back, Wandong finally understood why he saw many people setting up "chicken coops" on the road yesterday. It turned out that those were lanterns instead of chicken coops.

I was tricked by the shopkeeper of the flower and bird shop. Because of the Lantern Festival, all the potted plants sold to him were potted plants that could not bloom.

Nowadays, every household is making lanterns, and the big businessmen are even more competitive, comparing which one's lanterns are bigger and which ones have the best craftsmanship.

The big families are competing with each other, and the craftsmen are also competing with each other. The [-]th class of martial arts can't wait to show their fists.

"I don't know when the Lantern Festival is." Mei Wandong came back from the flower and bird shop and went to the shop to clean the pots and pans.

He only muttered a word, and the boss Qiu who was cleaning next door immediately said: "Every year, the county guard draws lots to set a time, and it should start tomorrow."

"..." Brother Qiu from the store next door usually doesn't speak for a day, but he suddenly startled him by speaking.

Mei Wandong wiped her forehead with her sleeve: "Brother Qiu, will you participate?"

Brother Qiu replied blankly: "Rich people play it, what do I do with those who sell calendars?" For him, if he has spare money, he might as well buy a few more sheets of paper.

"Brother Qiu, is tomorrow an auspicious day?"

Brother Qiu threw him a calendar: "Hey, it costs ten cents a piece. If you sell it, I'll sell it for five cents."

"..."

*

Mei Wandong had been in Yingbei for so long, and this was the first time she saw the sheriff's appearance.

There was no need to go out of the stall early in the morning, and just followed the crowd to the direction of the government.

But there are so many people, how can it be his turn to see the real face of the sheriff.

The sheriff was holding a note on March [-]th, and then a few officials on the side announced that the Lantern Festival would be on March [-]th.

It's only five days away.

"May I ask, what is the reward for being the first in the Lantern Festival?"

"Twelve taels of gold, plus the ability to go to the Liuhua Banquet and drink with the prince and the county guard."

Twelve taels of gold is the next best thing. It turned out that they just wanted to go to the banquet. If they could go to the banquet and say it, it would be enough for these big merchants to boast for a lifetime.

In the final analysis, I still want to do government business.

Another person said: "Last year, the one who won the first place was directly appointed an official, and went to deal with the salt and iron business. That is a golden rice bowl."

Mei Wandong only felt that one of the government officials was more boring than the other, and it was no surprise that the first place in the lantern was able to manage Yantie.

"Are these lanterns made of real flowers?" Wandong asked while rubbing his chin.

"No, real flowers can be used everywhere. If this lantern can fly up, it's too heavy to use all real flowers. It still needs a mix of silk flowers and real flowers."

Wandong didn't see what the prefect looked like, and returned home disappointed.

Now the door is open to sell porridge, Brother Qiu also got up, moving things outside.

"Did you see the sheriff?" Brother Qiu asked him with a narrowed smile.

Wandong shook her head disappointedly: "No."

Brother Qiu: "If you want to know what the prefect looks like, just go to the teahouse in front and buy a portrait of the prefect."

"The portraits of the teahouses don't look alike." I have already been fooled when I came to Yingbei last time.

Wandong was cutting the mutton, when a man rode by on horseback, Wandong looked up, isn't this Captain Ye?Captain Ye is coming to Yingbei for business soon? !

Wandong was about to shout, but Detective Ye had already left.

Not far ahead, there is a government office that is used for the handover of police officers.

Captain Ye should be going there.

Wandong wiped his hands: "Brother Qiu, please take a look for me, I will come back when I have something to do."

"Then go quickly."

*

At night, Captain Ye quickly drank and ate meat in Wandong's yard: Wandong, "Master Mo told me not to contact you, it's not that I don't want to look for you."

"So how many days have you been here? What's the matter?"

"It's nothing to do, just run errands, and I'll be back in two days."

"Then come back after watching the lanterns."

"That's right!" Detective Ye quickly laughed and scratched his head twice.

*

Wandong didn't want to go to the Lantern Festival on March [-], but everyone on the street went to the river, and there was no business at the night stalls, so Brother Qiu asked Wandong if he wanted to go to see the lanterns.

Brother Qiu was so stingy that he closed the shop, what kind of stall was he still guarding, so he went with Brother Qiu.

The biggest feature of Yingbei is that the city wall is like a copper wall and iron wall, high and thick. This kind of city wall has three layers inside and outside, and it took the two of them half an hour just to get out of the city.

In the end, because there were too many people, Wandong lost Brother Qiu.